The present invention relates to expanders for expandable bags and to combinations of such expanders and such bags.
Particularly in the bag market, such as flexible sided cosmetic bags, purses and luggage, there is a conflict between the needs of transporters or shippers to pack the bags flat for minimum freight charges (typically based on both weight and volume) and the needs of retailers for the bags to be expanded, rather than flattened, when they are on display at point-of-sale presentations. The conflict is resolved by use of an expander, including an expandable stuffer which can be inserted inside a hollow article, such as a bag, while in a flat condition, and, at any stage in the future, can be activated to expand the bag. The device comprises a stuffer including biasing means, and a releasable member which normally holds the stuffer or biasing means compressed but can be released to permit the stuffer or biasing means to expand.
A variety of expandable stuffers of different configurations and dimensions are well known in the stuffer art. A very simple stuffer comprises simply a pair of parallel sheet members and means biasing the parallel sheet members apart (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,451). In slightly more complex stuffers, there is a base sheet and a pair of hinged flaps pivotally secured to opposite sides thereof so that the stuffer can move from a collapsed orientation wherein the flaps are parallel to the base sheet to an expanded configuration wherein the flaps are more-or-less transverse thereto. These stuffers may assume an expanded configuration similar to a "U" where both flaps open on the same side of the base sheet or a "N" or "Z" where the two flaps open on opposite sides of the base sheet. In even more complex stuffers, the biasing means does not act directly on the flaps, but rather on intermediate members which, as they move to their final orientation under the influence of the biasing means, move the flaps to their expanded orientation.
It is known to provide an expandable stuffer which is maintained in the collapsed orientation within an expandable bag for shipment and storage by means of a band of string, wrap or the like disposed externally of and snugly about the bag (or plurality of bags) so that, once the band or wrap is cut, the bag is free to move to its expanded orientation under the influence of the biasing means. This type of expander has not met with commercial success because the band or wrap can mar or tear the exterior surface of the bag.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,451 discloses an expander wherein the stuffer comprises a pair of parallel sheet members and spring means biasing them apart. The stuffer is maintained in a collapsed orientation by means of a tie member. The tie member includes an enlarged head on one end, an enlarged eye on the other end, and a body connecting the eye and the head and passing through both sheet members. When the bag is in the collapsed orientation, the head abuts the external face of the first sheet member and the eye is disposed adjacent the external face of the other sheet member, the first sheet member defining a small aperture precluding passage of the enlarged head therethrough and the second sheet member defining an aperture large enough to permit passage of the eye therethrough. In order to maintain the stuffer in the collapsed orientation, a latching pin is disposed through the eye parallel to the sheet members and abuts against the external surface of the second sheet member, thereby precluding its movement under the influence of the biasing means. A string has one end secured to the latching pin and the other end disposed outside the bag so that, when the free end of the string is pulled, the latching pin is pulled out of the eye and the aperture of the second sheet member is then free to pass over the eye, under the influence of the biasing means pushing apart the sheet members, so that the stuffer assumes the expanded orientation and thereby also expands the bag.
While the latch system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,451 eliminates the possibility of the expander marring or tearing the external surface of the bag, it poses a similar threat to the internal surface of the bag and hence has not proven entirely satisfactory. More particularly, the latching pin which passes through the eye of the tie member must be rigid and the tie member itself (or at least portions thereof) must also be rigid--for example, to preclude the enlarged head from passing through aperture of the first sheet member and to prevent the eye from collapsing tightly on the latching pin therethrough and precluding release of the latching pin therefrom. Thus there are necessarily rigid elements on the external surfaces of the stuffer (the latching pin, the eye, and the enlarged head) which are capable of marring or tearing the interior surface of the bag while the stuffer is in the collapsed orientation, as the stuffer is moving from the collapsed orientations to the expanded orientation, and while the stuffer is in the expanded orientation. Of particular importance in this matter is the use of a rigid latching pin which during the latch release procedure is being forcibly moved relative to the eye of the tie member and presumably against the interior surface of the bag where the string passes through the bag. Such motion is highly likely to cause the marring or tearing of the interior surface of the bag.
Furthermore, assuming that the flexible string can easily pass through the opening in the bag, the larger and more rigid latching pin typically will not be able to do so. Thus, after the unlatching procedure is completed and the stuffer assumes the expanded orientation, there remains a long string hanging out of the bag which must now be cut and removed for aesthetic reasons.
Additionally, once the bag has been opened after purchase, there are accessible therein small members--namely, the tie member and the latching pin--which presented a danger to children since each may be of an appropriate size to be swallowed by a child.
Finally, as is any latching system, there exists the possibility of the latching pin becoming frozen in the eye through which it passes, so that the stuffer cannot be released and never assumes its expanded orientation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an expander which does not present a threat of marring or tearing to either the interior or exterior surfaces of the bag.
Another object is to provide such an expander which is operable in a closed bag by means of a string disposed Partially outside of the bag, and, in a preferred embodiment, permits the string to be totally removed from the bag as part of the process of moving the stuffer from a collapsed orientation to an expanded orientation.
A further object is to provide such an expander which does not leave in the bag small members which pose a danger to children opening the bag.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide in combination such an expander and an expandable bag.